Why m.2 shows in bios but not windows | Quick Solutions

Today, I was helping a friend install a new M.2 SSD on his computer. After plugging it in, we booted up the machine and went straight into the BIOS. I was happy, the drive showed up there without any issues. I thought, “Great, this should be a piece of cake!” But when we booted into Windows, the drive was nowhere to be found. Not in File Explorer, not in Disk Management, nothing. It was like it vanished into thin air.

First I thought, maybe I didn’t install it correctly. So, I opened up the computer again and double-checked the M.2 slot. Nope, I put it in just fine, it was seated nice and snug. I even tried a different M.2 slot on the motherboard, just in case the first one was acting up. Still the same problem, BIOS recognized it, but Windows didn’t.

Then I remembered that sometimes new drives need to be initialized and formatted in Windows. We opened up “Computer Management” and went to “Disk Management.” Usually, you’d see unallocated space there for a new drive, but this time, nothing. It was like the drive didn’t exist at all to Windows.

Next, I thought it might be a BIOS setting issue. We rebooted and went back into the BIOS. This motherboard’s BIOS was a bit messy, but I eventually found the SATA configuration settings. There was an option for the M.2 slot, and I made sure it was set to “M.2” or “PCIe” mode, not “SATA” or something else. Saved the changes and rebooted, but still no luck.

At this point, I was starting to get a little frustrated. I thought maybe a driver issue? So, we went to the motherboard manufacturer’s website and downloaded the latest chipset drivers. Installed them, rebooted, but again, nothing changed. The drive was still hiding from Windows.

Finally, I remembered something about drive letters. I was like, “Maybe Windows just didn’t assign it a drive letter automatically.” Back in “Computer Management” and then into “Disk Management”, I looked closely. And there it was! The drive was listed, but it didn’t have a drive letter assigned to it. It was just sitting there, unallocated. I right-clicked on it, selected “New Simple Volume,” and followed the wizard to format it and assign a drive letter.

And guess what? It worked! After the formatting was done, the drive finally showed up in File Explorer. We could finally use it. It was a bit of a rollercoaster, but we got there in the end. Turns out, it was just a simple case of Windows being Windows, not automatically assigning a drive letter. All we had to do was manually assign it a letter and format it, then Windows saw it without a problem.

Here’s what I did, step-by-step:

• Checked the physical installation of the M.2 SSD.
• Checked the BIOS settings to ensure the M.2 slot was in the correct mode.
• Looked in Windows “Disk Management” to see if the drive was listed.
• Assigned a drive letter and formatted the drive in “Disk Management”.

So, if you ever run into this issue, don’t panic. Just remember to check if the drive needs a letter assigned in “Disk Management”. It might save you a lot of headaches!